'Charlie's Courage': Excerpts from a child's book, part 4

"Charlie's Courage" is written by local author Eldon Massie and is available through amazon.com. (Courtesy)

Eldon Massie lives in Ruidoso and writes stories for children, which, he said, helps keep the inner child in himself alive.

Read the ongoing excerpts of "Charlie's Courage" in the Wednesday issue of Ruidoso News. "Charlie's Courage" is available on amazon.com.

That evening, Trish placed her rifle by the back door. Making dinner for just one seemed a waste, so she fixed herself a sandwich and went to bed a little earlier than usual. It was just before sunrise when Trish awoke to the sound of Charlie whining and making sounds that she'd never heard a horse make and barking. Trish knew immediately that Glen had been wrong about these predators being wolves! Wolves bark, but not like this. This was not a pack of wolves: Even worse, this was a pack of feral dogs.

Trish was up and at the back door before she knew it. Gun in hand, she flung the back door open and headed for the terrible sounds that came from the darkness. A crescent moon lit the way, but it gave her only about twenty feet of visibility. It seemed to take forever to reach the gate to where the horses were, but she soon realized that she was already in the midst of the terror that Charlie was facing.

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Six or eight dogs had Charlie and the two ponies backed into a corner. Trish raised the rifle to fire but was hindered by the way Charlie was defending herself against the relentless onslaught of the vicious canines. As one would charge, two were trying to get behind her to hamstring her. Charlie was having neither, her faster-than-what-seemed-possible actions kept the brutes off while she whirled and kicked them, sending them flying and yelping in agony. Pawing at them with her front feet and then turning suddenly to kick with her deadly, accurate rears, Charlie had them howling, whimpering, and intimidated to make a more serious charge. When Trish looked back after the fight was over, it seemed almost like poetry to see how Charlie protected herself and the ponies. The way she seemed to anticipate the next moves of this incursion was almost a thing of beauty. Charlie never panicked. It was almost as if she enjoyed it. This filly was more than brave, and she fought with the heart of a lion.

Trish yelled and screamed at the crazed animals until she finally had a chance to fire on one or more of the attackers. She raised her rifle to fire and heard a click. Panic set in immediately, and she cocked the lever once more and fired again. Another click. Anger took over her emotions. She was mad at herself for not checking to see if her rifle was loaded, and she was really mad at this snarling pack of dogs that had killing on its agenda! Without thinking it through, Trish slipped through the fence and charged the dogs screaming and swinging her useless rifle at them. As the butt connected with one, the dog's growling turned to a yelp of surprise, and the mutt went running. The others, now aware of Trish's presence, turned and faced their new advisory. Big mistake on their part: Charlie kicked out with her rears, caught the largest of them right in the torso, and sent it flying into the fence where it landed in a motionless heap. As Trish made an unplanned count of the remaining wild dogs, they ceased their attack and backed off, scattering in different directions into the darkness.